Gardening Questions: How to get rid of scale

Replies: 15 Views: 187

Print

Author	Comment
gardeninggal07 Round Rock, TX October 20, 2008 9:57 AM	I planted several Indian Hawthorn - "Clara" last year. About a month ago I noticed one of them completely covered in scale - hard body. All the others just have a few spots. I have been spraying with Neem oil every 10 days - 3 applications now. I spray all over - underneath, everywhere. How do I know if I have killed them. Do the scale spots ever go away? I have never had scale before. Thank you! View Larger
plantfreak78 Rolesville, NC (Zone 7b) October 20, 2008 12:57 PM	They should be dead by now. To check, use your fingernail to squish a few. If they are alive they will still have orange or yellow goo in them. If they are dead they should flake off. But, even dead scale won't just fall off on their own.
paulgrow Allen Park, MI (Zone 6a) October 20, 2008 2:53 PM	Horticultural oil workd great to kill scale. Paul
kitten0115 La Vergne, TN October 20, 2008 3:05 PM	the scale will stay even if dead, time will make them drop off. For now ignore them.
youngershirl Orange Park, FL (Zone 9a) October 20, 2008 6:48 PM	I don't know if this would work in your situation, but my Sago Palm had a scale problem. Luckily I caught it early, so it was easier to treat. What I used was used coffee grounds that I sprinkled on the fronds and all around the base of the Palm. I also took my leftover coffee and added water to it to make a weak solution and poured that on the palm and around the base. I watch the palm for new infestations, and if any occur I just keep applying the grounds and the weakened coffee solution. So far so good. Good luck!
gardeninggal07 Round Rock, TX October 20, 2008 9:22 PM	Thank you for all of your great answers/suggestions.
dp72 Woodway, TX (Zone 8a) October 20, 2008 9:48 PM	The coffee treatment- what is the explanation of how that works? Thanks
ecrane3 Dublin, CA (Zone 9a) October 20, 2008 10:40 PM	I've never heard of coffee being effective against scale, that would be nice if it was though! I wonder if it's not just the effect of washing them off the plant though and that could be accomplished with water just as well as coffee. When I have scale and catch them early I usually deal with them by washing/hosing off the plant and most of the time that solves the problem at least for a while.
youngershirl Orange Park, FL (Zone 9a) October 21, 2008 6:26 AM	Hi everyone, I was afraid you all were going to ask me a lot of questions about the coffee grounds, so I went back to the original thread where we were talking about coffee grounds as a possible treatment for scale. I am a newbie gardener, so I take whatever advice is given. I do hope this site answers some your questions. Sorry I could not be more informative. Shirley [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]
dp72 Woodway, TX (Zone 8a) October 21, 2008 9:03 AM	Please don't take offense at this, but there is almost unlimited advice here and there. Some of it's based on science, and a lot of it is anecdotal. And a lot of it is contradictory. One of the most common tendencies among us humans is to assume that if we do A and then B occurs, A must have caused B. I'm as susceptible to that as anyone else. But we do need to look at the source of the advice and evaluate the reliability of the source. It's not that people don't mean well, but often a notion is repeated endlessly, to the point that we think it must be true if so many people are saying it. A skeptical mind is your best ally when it comes to gardening- or anything else. Not cynicism, but skepticism- the good kind- does this make sense? How does such-and-such do what it's claimed to do? Good luck. We all learn as we go along.
youngershirl Orange Park, FL (Zone 9a) October 21, 2008 9:21 AM	No offense taken. I understand what you are saying and I do appreciate your comments. You are right, one needs to be a bit skeptical regarding ideas or views from others. I have read your thoughts and opinions on other sites and was a bit hesitant to even respond, but I do respect your opinion and feel you do have a much better understanding of gardening than I. That being said, as weird as it may seem and without any scientific explanation on my part, the coffee grounds do seem to be keeping the scale at bay. I will let you know if it stops working, who knows we maybe on to something. LOL I hope this has come across as it was intended, I really do respect your opinions and your insight. Shirley
dp72 Woodway, TX (Zone 8a) October 21, 2008 9:57 AM	Shirley, I really appreciate your reply. You have an open mind, and I try to! As you say, there may be something to the coffee treatment that nobody understands at this time. There have been advancements in science that weren't fully understood until later or even now aren't fully understood. The smallpox vaccination is a good example. Jenner found that exposure to cowpox protected people against smallpox. But it wasn't until Pasteur came up with the germ theory and van Leeuwenhook invented the microscope that the existence of germs was proven. Then vaccinations made sense. I hope you won't let ANYONE intimidate you and that you'll keep posting. Some of the best questions come from people who are fairly new to gardening but have good sense and a healthy curiosity. There are people at all levels on Dave's, and most are good people willing to share information they have gathered along the way. By careful discrimination you will get better and better at separating the wheat from the chaff. If something attracts your interest, you might compare what you read with other sites. Texas A&M has an outstanding website with tons of info. I'm a little prejudiced because I'm a Texan, and prob. Florida A&M would be more suitable for you since you live there, but there are a lot of similarities in gardening in both places. Well, this has gotten too long. The best to you....... James
youngershirl Orange Park, FL (Zone 9a) October 21, 2008 1:56 PM	Thank you James, I am sure you and I will be talking in the future. I look forward to reading your posts and look forward to the next time we have a chance to chat. Shirley
scicciarella Metcalfe, ON (Zone 5a) October 23, 2008 3:32 PM	maybe someone can help me I am stomped I have a dragon arum purchased it last fall did as the direction said to plant and keep cool and dry well it bloomed in my house in january it stinks to much not going there again now in the spring I planted it outside and now at the end of october it is come to life no leaf but it had grown what I call dickies which is the begining of it before leafing out, I do not want it to die my question is will it go dormant and stop growing with the cold and continue in the spring or is it going to die.
chubbydoll Jacksonville, FL November 3, 2008 10:36 AM	Scicciarella, I posted the same question inmy Forida forum and the answer I got was it is dormant to keep it warm and water sparingly until spring and it should return. I brought mine in the night before we had out first freeze and with in 2 days it was flacid and the leaves were yellow. I got realy scared. But I am sure now that it it just dormant, as they are bulbs. I'm glad I found someone else who has these beauties!! Good Luck.. I want to see pictures when it blooms!
WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland (United Kingdom) November 8, 2008 8:44 PM	The scale insects wont drop off you have to remove them, they are attached by a cluster of little spreading sucker feet and even the birds cant dislodge them, I am hopeful about the coffee cure as it could be the safest way to treat this pest insect, but for me, the only way I can get rid of it is by dipping a cotton ball into some Methylated spirits and swabbing them away, if you have a large infestation this can be time consuming, but dont really know any other full proof way to deal with them, they such the life out of the foliage if not properly removed. Meths id bought from the drug store and is purple in colour, here in UK we have to sign a registrar at the drug stores as they can only sell a small amount due to the fact that some wino's drink it in desperation. Good luck, hope some of the hints and tips help you out. WeeNel.

You cannot post until you register and login.

Other Gardening Questions Threads you might be interested in:

Subject	Thread Starter	Replies	Last Post
Exactly what is compost is it fertilizer or is it soil or	joy112854	3	Jan 6, 2009 1:10 AM
shredded cotton fabric in compost bin? dryer lint in compost	sharonlacreta	7	Jan 5, 2009 11:12 PM

Other Forums you might be interested in:

Flowers

Gardening Questions

What's This Plant?